SM U 68
| SM U 68 ( previous / next - all submarines ) |
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| Construction data | ||
| Submarine type: | Two-hull deep-sea boat war order D / UD |
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| Construction series: | U 66 - U 70 | |
| Builder: | Germania shipyard, Kiel | |
| Build number: | 205 | |
| Launch: | June 1, 1915 | |
| Commissioning: | 17th August 1915 | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| Displacement: | 791 tons (above water) 933 tons (under water) |
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| Length: | 69.50 m | |
| Width: | 6.30 m | |
| Draft: | 3.79 m | |
| Pressure body ø: | 4.15 m | |
| Max. Diving depth: | 50 m | |
| Dive time: | 40-100 s | |
| Drive: | Diesel engines 2300 PS E-machines 1240 PS |
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| Speed: | 16.8 knots (above water) 10.3 knots (under water) |
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| Armament: | 4 bow and 1 stern torpedo tubes, 12 torpedoes 1 × 8.8 cm deck gun 1 × 10.5 cm deck gun (from 1916/17) |
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| Mission data | ||
| Commanders: |
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| Crew (target strength): | 4 officers 32 men |
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| Calls: | 1 | |
| Successes: | no | |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk on March 22, 1916 southwest of Ireland by the British Q-ship Farnborough ( Q 5 ). | |
SM U 68 was a diesel-electric UD class submarine of the German Imperial Navy that was used in the First World War .
commitment
The submarine was ordered by the Austrian Navy before the start of the war , but was taken over by Germany on November 28, 1914. On June 1, 1915, the submarine finally ran as U 68 at the Germania shipyard in Kiel from the stack and was put into service on August 17, 1915th The first and only commanding officer was Lieutenant Ludwig Güntzel . He commanded U 68 from the day it was commissioned until it sank on March 22, 1916.
At the end of November 1915, U 68 was assigned to the 4th U-Flotilla of the High Seas Armed Forces, which was stationed in Emden and on Borkum .
U 68 carried out a patrol in the North Sea and in the waters around the British Isles during the First World War . No ship was sunk or damaged in the process. On December 29 and 30, 1915, U 68 secured the exit of the German auxiliary cruiser Möve until shortly before the British naval blockade near Norway .
Whereabouts
U 68 was on the morning of March 22, 1916, southwest of Ireland off the coast of County Kerry . The submarine sighted a supposed coal ship and started a torpedo attack while submerged. The ship was the British Farnborough submarine trap ( Q 5 ) under the command of Gordon Campbell . A torpedo missed the target, so Lieutenant Güntzel decided to launch an overwater attack instead. Güntzel showed up and stopped the ship with a warning shot from the deck gun. Part of the ship's crew boarded the dinghies in apparent panic . U 68 approached the ship at about 800 meters. A second torpedo was shot down, which again did not hit. Suddenly the British naval flag appeared on the ship and artillery fired at the submarine. U 68 submerged, but was covered with two depth charges that forced the submarine to surface. The Farnborough's crew recognized significant damage to the bow of the submarine. U 68 was hit by another artillery fire and sank. Oil and wreckage confirmed the sinking. The sinking was carried out approximately at the position of 51 ° 54 ' N , 10 ° 53' W . There were no survivors. An uplift did not take place.
On February 17, 1917, the Farnborough also sank the German submarine U 83 in the same area of the sea, also by artillery fire.
Footnotes
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 139.
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 68.
- ^ John Walter: Pirates of the Emperor - German trade troublemakers 1914-1918. Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 1994, ISBN 3-613-01729-6 , p. 142.
- ↑ Otto Mielke: SM auxiliary cruiser "Möwe" - the first breakthrough in the blockade . SOS Fates of German Ships, No. 125, Munich: Arthur Moewig Verlag, 1957, p. 8
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 90.
- ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars . Graefelfing before Munich: Urbes, 1998, p. 17.
- ↑ Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, p. 90.
- ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars . Graefelfing before Munich: Urbes, 1998, p. 24.
literature
- Bodo Herzog: German U-Boats 1906–1966 . Erlangen: Karl Müller Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-86070-036-7 .
- Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars . Graefelfing before Munich: Urbes, 1998, ISBN 3-924896-43-7 .
Web links
- uboat.net WWI U-boats U 68 (engl.)
- u-boot-net.de: SM U 68
- Memorial plaque for U 68 at the submarine memorial in Möltenort
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